Located in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Groom is dominated by the city of Toowoomba about 100 kilometres west of Brisbane, which accounts for slightly less than 80% of its population. Toowoomba is near the electorate’s eastern boundary, from which it extends westwards to Jondaryan and Pittsworth and northwards to Goombungee, along with sparsely populared rural areas further afield. The electorate was created with the expansion of parliament in 1984 as the successor to Darling Downs, which had existed since federation. Neither Darling Downs nor Groom has ever been held by Labor.
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| Teal and red numbers respectively indicate size of two-party majorities for the LNP and Labor. Click for larger image. Map boundaries courtesy of Ben Raue at The Tally Room. |
Darling Downs was held by the major conservative movement of the time from 1901 until 1936, when Arthur Fadden gained it for the Country Party at a by-election held after the death of United Australia Party member Sir Littleton Groom, who gives the modern electorate its name. When parliament expanded in 1949, Fadden moved to the new seat of McPherson, and an agreement between the coalition parties reserved Darling Downs for the Liberals. It was accordingly won with little difficulty by Liberal candidate Reginald Swartz, who retained it until his retirement in 1972. A three-cornered contest ensued at the 1972 election, in which Country Party candidate Tom McVeigh secured a comfortable victory after outpolling the Liberal candidate by 32.3% to 22.5%. McVeigh carried on as member for Groom after 1984 and retired in February 1988, leading to another three-cornered contest at the ensuing by-election. This time the seat fell to the Liberals, whose candidate Bill Taylor outpolled the Nationals candidate by 33.3% to 28.8%. With Taylor’s retirement in 1998 the seat was bequeathed to its current member, Ian Macfarlane, who polled 33.1% on debut against 18.0% for One Nation and 15.2% for the Nationals. The Nationals again fielded a candidate against Macfarlane in 2001, but gave him little trouble.
Recognisable for a distinctive voice resulting from damage sustained to his larynx following a cancer operation in 2004, Macfarlane served as a minister in the Howard government from January 2001, first in the junior portfolio of small business, then attaining cabinet rank as Industry, Tourism and Resources Minister after the October 2001 election. He attained further seniority in opposition, holding the trade portfolio under Brendan Nelson and energy and resources under Malcolm Turnbull. When Tony Abbott became leader in December 2009 he was moved to infrastructure to make way for Nick Minchin, but he recovered energy and resources when Minchin retired from the front-bench the following March. With the election of the Abbott government he was allocated to an expanded industry portfolio that incorporated responsibility for mining and science, the lack of a dedicated portfolio for the latter inspiring some controversy.
The Swedes have indeed given that undertaking.
Under EU law no person who has been extradited to another EU state may be extradited to a third state without the consent of the first state. Sweden could only extradite to the US with UK approval. If Assange is worried about extradition it is just as likely to occur in the UK as Sweden.
Really the guy is a fool. If he had faced the courts initially and been convicted he would have been out of gaol by now. Instead he spent 3 years fighting a protracted extradition process and when the result went against him broke bail and effectively placed himself under house arrest for 2 years.
The FAt One singing from much the same song sheet as Penny and John Falzon.
There goes the budget.
Clive has always talked a good fight.
It’s what he and his cronies do in the end that is important.
My view is he’s engineering for a Turnbull PM.
[Oakeshott Country
Posted Monday, August 18, 2014 at 9:43 pm | Permalink
BW
As I implied in a relationship this may have been considered a faux pas as the partners may indeed have that understanding
This seems less likely in a one night stand.]
Yes. There are so very many, many uncertainties here and I accept your point about the possible differences between a one-night stand and an ongoing relationship.
IMHO, most relationships, whether short term or ongoing, have significant areas of unspoken uncertainty and significant areas where individuals change their feelings or views or responses.
Verbalising every single thing every single time simply does not happen.
Yet, that is exactly what the law may end up requiring of either or both partners in an activity.
Bemused
Do you believe rape is impossible in marriage?
Is it impossible to rape a prostitute?
Oakshott
If the cheque bounces.
Actually, my understanding is that if you fail to pay a prostitute it is rape because your failure negatives her consent, or some such
GG
Although that trivialises the question you are quite right
With a bit of luck Truss will trundle back to the Abbott Government, of which he is the Deputy Prime Minister, and tell the Lunatic Right that the Budget is Fukt.
But Truss is a major, major infrastructure addict from way back.
So he might keep his head in the sand.
Falzon pointing to Ferguson USA as an example of where we are heading if this budget passed. Strong stuff!
GG
When Palmer has been that categorical the votes have followed.
I think Hockey has just heard his career death knell.
OC,
You got to keep it simple for us Bogans from the burbs.
[What was she expecting to happen in the same bed?
Seems to me she was up for it and is now just quibbling about minor details in retrospect.]
Offensive.
Thankfully Sweden at least has evolved past this attitude.
Woah! Clive Palmer categorically rejects most of the budget yet Warren Truss continues as if he says nothing…john falzon is brilliant on qanda tonight…this govt is totally oblivious to reality..
Anyone who thinks McCain would have been a similar president to Obama needs to have a look at McCains record of calling for US military intervention just about any time he sees an opportunity.
I’ll give the Nats this one thing: they tend to be polite and respectful in the way they comport themselves.
W
Who thinks that McCain would be a similar president to Obama?
Oakeshott Country@1206
Rape in marriage? Yes, possible if the woman says no.
Rape a prostitute? Yes if she refuses a specific act.
KEVIN-ONE-SEVEN@1208
A civil matter surely. Breach of contract?
Guytaur,
When the PUP have voted it is more scattergotical.
I don’t trust him or PUp at all.
[I’ll give the Nats this one thing: they tend to be polite and respectful]
Like lambs to the slaughter. Never make friends with Abbott.
[Really the guy is a fool. If he had faced the courts initially and been convicted he would have been out of gaol by now. Instead he spent 3 years fighting a protracted extradition process and when the result went against him broke bail and effectively placed himself under house arrest for 2 years.]
No, he’s an attention seeking fool. What’s embarrassing is that so many people have been caught up in his Wikileaks bullshit that they’re prepared to throw down for such a loser overlooking, if not even outright making excuses for the sexual assualt allegations simply because they perceive him to be some kind of modern day Che Guevara hero. That shit is jacked.
If Assange isn’t man enough to front up to answer allegations about him in Sweden then the best thing that could happen is that he move the f*ck on to Ecuador, get on with his new life and stop polluting our airwaves with his look at me shit.
Wakefield,
McCain or Hillary would have been better not similar to Obama.
Darren Laver@1214
Too precious and easily offended.
mh
The Nats have done extremely well out of the Coalition.
BW 1218 – GG about 70 posts back and seemed to be a coupls of others agreeing.
fess,
For goodness sake, stop pulling your punches!
[Offensive.]
Totally. And ignorant.
Amazing that Wikileaks manages to turn some “progressives” against Swedish sexual equality and yet leave them supportive of the regime in Russia, home of state-sponsored homophobia.
GG:
*grins*
Sorry, next time I’ll go all out swinging. 😀
W
McCain is an unreconstructed NeoCon warmonger of the very worst sort. He was angling for a war with Putin a month or so ago and still does not appear to have twigged that it was lunatics just like him who destabilised Iraq with out-of-control consequences.
[up for it]
Three simple words to show you the mindset of bemused.
fess,
I’ve always admired your passion.
Doesn’t mean I always agree, though.
Cheers.
DL
You confuse administration of law so justice is done with the laws themselves.
For my part I have not said guilty or innocent.
I have said lets have due process.
bw
I suppose so, if being led by the nose is a measure of success.
A Young Lib rears his ugly head for The Fat One to kick. 😆
Re: Palmer…
We are a heart attack away from a radical rebalancing of the Senate BOP.
Think about it.
Wow a Pyne clone in the Q&A audience
Darren Laver@1233
So you think she was in bed with him to hold hands?
the Swedish could have guaranteed that regardless of the outcome of the legal proceeding, he would not be extradited to the US or any state not making the same guarantee.
Sounds fair if they were serious about the charges.
Darren L:
Someone said earlier that Assange was exercising his right to silence.
Well, seeking asylum with Ecuador of all places, in order to avoid facing Swedish accusations of sexual assault, all the while maintaining what appear on the surface to be fanciful delusions of fear of extradition to the US on whatever national security charges, seems a pretty extreme way to me to maintain one’s “right to silence”!
[mikehilliard
Posted Monday, August 18, 2014 at 10:06 pm | Permalink
bw
I suppose so, if being led by the nose is a measure of success.]
(1) diesel rebate stays in place
(2) one free trade deal after another sacrifices the environment and promotes agricultural trade
(3) employment costs are systematically driven down
(4) squillions spent on rural infrastructure where users do NOT pay but property values go up and costs of production go down.
(5) squillions of free taxpayer moneys being made available to bale rural investors out of disastrous investment decisions
(6) animal cruelty systematically buried as an issue
etc, etc, etc…
GG
Don’t worry I don’t trust Palmer either. However when he has made categorical statements in the past he has delivered.
Until proven otherwise I expect him to continue to do so,
Retweeted by ACOSS
Jane Caro @JaneCaro 15m
#qanda Paying young people nothing will create a new generation of beggars & much worse. Awful, nasty & short sighted.
Fran,
What’s fair is people submitting to the law of the land.
Assange was to be extradited according to British law.
Let the law take its course.
Bemused that was a horrible joke, if it was not a joke I think you gotta think a little bit about your mindset.
DL,
I have teenagers under my jurisdiction that argue even more fantastic scenarios.
GG
Seeking Asylum is having the law take its course too. Have a problem send your objections to Ecuador.
bw
I take your point, they’re a screaming success. 😉